Charlotte

It’s been a while! I’ve been busy with work and other activities the past few weeks so I didn’t have much time to keep up with all the anime I’m following and search up good manga worthy enough for reviewing. However, in my absence I was still constantly active on Instagram so I didn’t completely disappear. If you want to see the various anime and manga that I’m keeping up with and STILL haven’t followed me, hesitate no more and clickHERE.

Among the summer anime that I had gotten started on, Charlotte is probably the only one that I’m still following.

Why? Because it’s so goddamn GOOD. It’s full of feels and action and you don’t know what to expect next. I remember that my fandom for Charlotte totally shot up right after I had watched episode 7.

The series isn’t completed yet so I’ll quickly run through what the story is about and what has happened so far.

THE STORY:

Charlotte is about a group of teenagers who are brought together because each of them wields a special ability that is unique to them. The reason behind why they have abilities is unknown but these teenagers will lose them upon reaching adulthood.

The story follows Otosaka Yuu, who wields the power of body possession, though it is only for five seconds. He lives together with his younger sister, Ayumi who does most of the domestic chores at home and likes to put pizza sauce into everything she cooks. Yuu prides himself on his looks and cheats on his exams to obtain extremely high scores that he is otherwise unable to get to get into a top high school. He is later scouted by Tomori Nao and Takajou Joujirou from Hoshinoumi Academy who reveal that they know of his ability and orders him to transfer schools and join them in the student council.

Without much of a choice, Yuu transfers into Hoshinoumi Academy and joins the student council in scouting out other ability-wielders to offer them safety by enrolling in Hoshinoumi. They successfully recruit Nishimori Yusa, a popular singer who turns out to be an ability-wielder too and meet many other ability-wielders. Can the Houshinoumi Academy student council save all the ability-wielders?

READ THIS NEXT PART AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

It is later revealed that Yuu’s sister has the power of collapse and when she is cornered by a jealous schoolmate who threatens to hurt her with a penknife, she accidentally activates her ability, collapsing the entire school building and killing herself in the process.

Shocked by grief, Yuu becomes unable to function normally and begins to distance himself from his friends. Dropping deeper into trauma, he leaves home and recklessly picks fights with thugs and wins with the use of his ability. This destructive behaviour eventually stops when Nao appears at a critical moment. She takes Yuu home and makes an agreement with him never to have anything to do with him again after she makes him one meal. Yuu’s walls begin to collapse when he tastes the familiar taste of pizza sauce and breaks down uncontrollably. He promises to return to school to the student council.

Yuu begins to develop feelings for Nao and he accompanies her to the concert of her favourite band, ZHIEND. During the concert, Yuu faints and is taken to hospital. While unconscious, he has a dream of being in a research facility and having an older brother. He awakens to find that it wasn’t just a dream, but actual memories. He is asked to be taken to see someone who will give him all the answers he wants and is taken to Otosaka Shunsuke, his older brother, who is revealed to have been responsible for most of everything that has been set in place.

MY OPINION:

I love the concept of Charlotte. Stories about people with superpowers are always interesting to watch and although slow and predictable in the beginning (the first 5 episodes), Charlotte totally stepped up its game in episode 6 by throwing us and its characters into a completely unexpected situation – no one would’ve seen that coming. Ayumi’s death happened so fast that I as the viewer could also understand what Yuu was going through in episode 7 because I myself, had grown somewhat attached to Ayumi. Episode 7 made a huge impression on me because I’d never felt so much for a character before for a long time and the fear I’d felt when Yuu was going berserk was real. I was genuinely concerned and worried about what would happen to this character, if you know what I mean?

And who would’ve foreseen that Yuu and Ayumi had a handsome older brother! That was brilliant and it fitted the story perfectly. I love that Shunsuke’s character was that of the doting, loving older brother who would sacrifice anything, if it meant creating a better world for his younger siblings, as well as other troubled ability-wielders. It totally made sense that he was behind the current system of protecting ability-wielders. A scene that I really liked in the series was the forgotten memories of Yuu of the research facility in the original timeline. It gave me a better idea of what it was like for them to live under the oppression of the researchers and why Shunsuke felt that they had to create a system to protect other ability-wielders, leading to the current timeline.

Charlotte‘s art is absolutely beautiful too, giving each scene its respective appropriate feel to it. The characters are likeable and on top of that, I think many viewers can identify with each of them at different points in the story. I love Yuu and Shunsuke’s deep love for their family and the people around them, Ayumi’s innocence and optimism, Nao’s level-headedness and Kumagami’s loyalty to Shunsuke. Overall, what keeps me watching this series is the fact that anything can happen at anytime and it’s usually things that you don’t expect. Or maybe it’s just me who’s rather slow at spotting hints hahaha.

Character likeability / Character background: 9/10 (Not everything is revealed yet but it’s all slowly unfolding beautifully. I like)

Overall story: 9/10 (Charlotte is undoubtedly the best 2015 summer anime in my opinion. It’s so original and it keeps you on your toes every episode)

Re-watchability: 8/10 (Yeah of course I would re-watch it, to see the story from a different perspective from the beginning, now that I know most of the answers to many of the unanswered questions many would have in the first few episodes)